Wiley Family History

John Wiley
 (1784-1843)

        JOHN WILEY, second son of Alexander Wiley and Martha Noel, was born 14 February 1784 in Caswell County, North Carolina,¹ and died in 1843, probably in Walker County, Georgia.^2,3  He married SALLY NOEL 25 May 1812 in Roane County, Tennessee,⁴ daughter of JAMES NOEL and JANE RICHMOND.  She was born about 1785 in Caswell County, North Carolina.

        John Wiley moved with his parents and other relatives from North Carolina to Tennessee in the last decade of the 18^th century and first appears in the records of Roane County, Tennessee, on a list of all those entitled to vote in Captain William White's Company of 1809. 

        John fought in the War of 1812 and held the rank of 1st Lieutenant in Col. John Brown's Regiment, East Tennessee Volunteers, Captain William White's Company of Mounted Militia, as indicated by the Muster Roll of Captain White's Company of men who enlisted Sept. 30, 1813 to Dec. 30, 1813.  These troops served in the United States Army during a national emergency and were under the command of Colonel John Brown of Roane County, Tennessee.  Colonel John Brown commanded two separate regiments at different times during the war. This regiment, along with a unit commanded by Colonel Samuel Bunch, comprised a brigade commanded by General George Doherty of the East Tennessee Volunteer Militia. Accounts of the movement of this regiment show it at Fort Armstrong (late November 1813) and Fort Deposit, locations that indicate that this unit was probably used to protect the supply lines from East Tennessee.   John Wiley’s name appears on a "Petition for the Benefit of Militia Officers" of the State of Tennessee Roane County 14 Regiment of Tennessee Militia of September 23, 1813.

        He appears next on a list of voters of Roane County, TN of 1815 along with his father, Alexander, and brothers Thomas, James, and Alexander Jr. and in 1817 on a Roane County petition for changing polling place, again along side his father, Alexander, and brothers Thomas and Alexander Jr.

        By 1821, John had become a county justice and is on the list of justices of Roane County, Tennessee ordered to prepare the list of taxables of 1821 in Capt. Wiley's Company.  He also appears on the tax list of 1821 along with brothers Thomas, James and Alexander Jr. and a Harmon Wiley, who was no doubt the mistranscribed name of Henry Howard Wiley, his youngest brother, who would have been 21 in that year.

        In 1822, John is on the list of justices of Roane County, Tennessee, ordered to prepare the list of taxables of 1822 in Capt. Selbe's Company.  He was one of the jurors summoned to attend Circuit Court March 1823 and once again was on the list of Justices of Roane County, Tennessee for the years 1823-1827.

        On 7 June 1827, John Wiley bought 100 acres of his father Alexander’s land on the north side of Big Poplar Creek for $460.00.  His youngest brother, Henry Howard Wiley, bought the other 100 acres on the south side for $700.00 on the same day.⁸

        The Roane County, Tennessee, Federal census of 1830 shows John Wiley living “north of the Tennessee River” with three boys, one girl, and one adult female between 40 and 50, undoubtedly his wife, Sally Noel.⁵  One boy was aged one 5-10 years (born between 1820-1825), one 10-15 years (born between 1815-1820), and one 15-20 years (born between 1810-1815).   The girl was between 10 and 15 years old (born between 1815- 1820).    

        The names of John and Sally’s children are known to us from a handwritten Wiley family history preserved in the Civil War era papers of Mrs. Henry Purris Wiley. Henry was a son of John’s brother Henry Howard Wiley.  These papers are housed in the Baylor University Library in Waco, Texas. ⁶  Their names  are listed as Martha, Alexander, John King., James, and Jane.  Martha was probably the oldest, since she is listed first and named after her grandmother, and would have been born around 1813.  A daughter of that age does not appear here with the other children indicating that Martha most likely was married and in a household of her own by the time the 1830 census was taken.

        By 1840, the family had migrated west to Walker County, Georgia, where they appear in the census in District 956. ⁷  Included in the household are four males (one under 5, one 10-15, one 50-60 and one 60-70) and two females (one 20-30 and one 50-60).  Son John K. Wiley appears in a separate household also in District 956 with a wife (age 15-20) and one child, a boy under five years of age. This would be John W. Wiley, who was born May 2, 1840.

        John Wiley died about 1843, probably in Walker County, Georgia.^{2, 3}  Apparently, he still owned his acres on Poplar Creek in Roane County purchased from his father in 1827.  An administrator's bond dated 01 May 1843 names George S. Gillespie, John C. Gillespie, and Robert N. McEwen administrators of his estate. ²  The administrators filed their report at the November term³:

"State of Tennessee

Roane County

To the worshipful County Court of said County - no personal property of the estate of John Wiley, Dec'd, formerly of this County has ever come to my hand as administrator of said Wiley but I am informed there is an undivided interest in a tract of land lying on the Water of Poplar Creek in this County belonging to said estate.  November 6th 1843

Sworn to in open                                                                          Geo. S. Gillespie

Court the 6th Nov 1843                                                             Administrator"

A S Greene, Clerk 

        Some of John and Sally’s children, including John King Wiley, moved on to Monroe and Barren Counties, Kentucky, and many of their descendants still live in that area today.

Children of JOHN WILEY and SALLY NOEL are:

                   i.    MARTHA³ WILEY, b. abt. 1813, Roane County, Tennessee.

                  ii.    ALEXANDER WILEY, b. abt. 1815 Roane County, Tennessee.

                 iii.    JOHN KING WILEY^8,9, b. 1818, Roane County, Tennessee^10,11; d. Aft. 1880, Prob. Monroe County, Kentucky.

                 iv.    JAMES WILEY, b. abt. 1819, Roane County, Tennessee.

                  v.    JANE WILEY, b. abt. 1820, Roane County, Tennessee.